Art al TRAM by Mur0ne

The new urban art mural at the Cornellà Centre TRAM stop was officially inaugurated with a visit attended, among others, by the Mayor of Cornellà, Antoni Balmón; the Catalan Minister for Territory and Sustainability, Damià Calvet; and the president of TRAM, Felip Puig. Over two weeks, Iker Muro, known artistically as Mur0ne, painted a 1,635 m² mural inside the Cornellà Centre TRAM stop in Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona). This artwork, managed by the cultural organisation Rebobinart, was the first action within Art al TRAM, a project to promote quality art interventions at several stops that TRAM aims to roll out over the coming years.

Through this project, TRAM wants to use art to revitalise these spaces and make them more pleasant. It also reflects the company’s commitment to social and environmental values, bringing citizens a city model based on sustainability, social innovation and inclusion through art and culture. Located at street level in one of the most central parts of Cornellà de Llobregat, the Cornellà Centre TRAM stop has become a busy thoroughfare, which is why TRAM chose this landmark stop in the Barcelona metropolitan area to kick off the project.

Mur0ne’s figurative intervention, composed of bright colours, depicts the multiculturalism and diversity of tram riders through a play of overlapping face profiles that create a sense of movement. Integrated on both sides of the Cornellà Centre station, the artwork has brought vitality to the stop, creating an immersive artistic experience both for transport users and for everyday pedestrians.

This is the second remodelling of the Cornellà interchange since 2005, when the “Trayectos” project was inaugurated. That project involved students from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, coordinated by professors Albert Valera, Lluís Doñate and Maria Josep Forcadell, and conceived the Cornellà Centre TRAM stop as a sculptural space where different elements – graphic and three-dimensional images, signs, texts and areas of colour – expressed the idea of travel and transport.

Previous remodelling of the space

Before the mural began, TRAM carried out major works to renew the lighting at the Cornellà Centre intermodal station, with a twofold aim: to improve the visibility of Mur0ne’s work and to reduce energy consumption by replacing the existing lights with low-consumption LEDs.

Iker Muro is a Spanish artist and graphic designer who has been painting murals in Spain and around the world since 2002. His work combines figurative and abstract art, conveying both tangible and fictional elements through vivid colours and figures influenced by the visual imagery of the cities where he paints.

Rebobinart is the cultural platform that manages and produces the mural. Since its foundation in 2012, the organisation has followed a clearly social philosophy: putting urban art at the service of the social and cultural dynamisation of public space. It promotes the most elaborate expressions of urban art and works to de-stigmatise the perception of a discipline often regarded as vandalism and invasive. To that end, it fosters a professional approach to urban art, putting it at the service of society through projects rooted in the territory that add value to the urban space, strengthen residents’ sense of belonging to their neighbourhood or district, and generate a culture of participation and critical thinking.

TRAM, the public transport company that operates the two tram networks in the Barcelona metropolitan area, has long supported culture through collaborations with cultural organisations such as the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the museums of the Articket network and local organisations in the cities the tram runs through. The Cornellà Centre project extends this line of collaborations and brings cultural expression closer to the public.

At Rebobinart we’re delighted with the result, and we look forward to continuing to develop this project!